A crazy week!

The past few days have been busy to say the least and the next few promise to continue in the same vein so I'm grabbing 10 mins to write a few lines.
We went to the zoo last Saturday afternoon. It was by way of a bribe to the kids really as we'd had some boring running about to do in the morning so we promised a treat if they behaved well. In all the time we've been in Perth the zoo has had no dingoes after losing the old ones last year. Now the new pups have arrived and we were fortunate enough to rock up at the enclosure just at feeding time. They were truly delightful. At only 3 months old and born in captivity they appear as tame and trainable as any domestic dog and sat to wait for their food bowls, only actually eating when the keeper signalled that it was ok.

In the evening we went cycling along by the river. Well, the boys cycled to be precise, and we walked. It was a beautiful evening and we had to stop the boys in their desire to go paddling in the river (bit cold for that). I must say these are the times when I really do appreciate the beauty of where we are curently living, and the fine lifestyle for children. The riverside path is well away from the road and scattered with little mini river beaches complete with shells to collect.

The black swans in the background are very much part of the scenery and are why the river is indeed called "The Swan". 
Amazingly further along the path we saw another fabulous sight. An eagle atop one of the riverside houses, looking out for a feast of fish. They were jumping, we saw some, so I'm sure he won't have had to wait for too long for his meal. 

Not the best ever picture, but you get the idea!

He flew off just after this picture was taken, but we didn't manage to get a shot of him in flight which is a pity as he was really quite a sight.
On the way back, Brian took a picture up river to where the city lights were twinkling.

I am now finishing this post four days later while waiting for our cab to the airport. Brian has been to and from Singapore in the meantime, nearly getting stranded there when Quantas decided the volcanic ash from a Chilean volcano was too worrisome for them to fly. Singapore airlines were not quite so easily put off though and he managed to get a seat on board their flight and get home in time to pack for our family trip home to my sister-in-law's wedding.

The past few days have indeed been crazily busy. On Tuesday Alfie recieved his first merit certificate at his school assembly so I of course attended, and felt incrdibly proud. He was credited for his "great contribution to class discussions, always having something interesting to say".  That'd be right for Alfie, chatterbox that he is!! Then between normal activities like getting the kids to sports/swimming lessons I have been tidying, washing and generally trying to prepare for this trip. The culmination of this was that today I was so busy actually packing the cases that I nearly left Alfie at school. Had I not suddenly felt starving hungry, and glanced at my watch to check how late I was with my lunch, I would not have realised at all that it was now a minute past 3, and Alfie finishes school (ten mins drive away) at 3pm!!!! I grabbed Ru, no shoes or socks on his feet and literally threw him inoto the car whilst simultaneously ringing one of the other mums to try to get a message to the teacher. All was well as they were all running a little late in class, but I don't think I have ever felt such a sudden burst of panic and guilt as at nearly forgetting my little darling.

So now we're off on our next big adventure, back to see our families and friends and enjoy the big family occasion next week. Wish us luck on our flights. See some of you soon. Byeee.

Dancing queen?

Alfie in the car on the way to school this morning said " Mummy, I've got a new song to sing for you. It's by Justin Beaver". I didn't have the heart to correct the name. So, trying desperately not to smirk at the thought of a cartoon rodent crooning into a mike I ask for the rendition.
"Ooohh baby, baby, baby" is what is offered.
"Great. Where did you learn that? The girls in your class?"
"Yes, and Mrs B did a really terrible dance to it too"
Now, Mrs B is the motherly teaching assistant who helps out in class and is great for joining in all their games. She's really not old at all, perhaps a few years older than me, which surely makes her in the prime of life ;o) .
The thing that occurs to me is how bad must the dancing have been for a 5 year old to say it was really terrible?? Or was it indeed quite normal dancing, but just because street dance is the way to go these days, it wasn't up to scratch?
It did give me cause to consider my conduct at the upcoming wedding. I might wait till the kids go to bed before I venture out onto the floor. Just to be sure that my overly honest son doesn't have the chance to tell all next time he does news for his class at school.....

The flipside is.......

So, having told you plenty about the beautiful surroundings here, the lovely outdoor life, sunshine etc, here's a glimpse of the other side of the coin.
The one thing people don't think of about moving to live in Australia is how cold you might feel. The sun always shines here right? And it does, about 90% of the time. That's the irony.

But its winter now and just like the bitter nights in the desert, so there is no cloud cover at night to keep any bit of the sun's warmth close to the land. The temperatures drop into single figures, even if its not actually frosty, and that makes getting out of bed in the morning pretty shivery.
By day, unless it is one of our very few dull and rainy days, the sun continues to shine and give some warmth. But the wind has a chill and unless you can sit in a sunny window behind glass, our house feels cold most of the time.

You see the houses are built for the hot weather. There is a tendency to point the largest windows away from the sunshine ( we have an inner courtyard which is glass on 3 sides but never gets any direct sunlight at all). Double glazing is an almost unheard of concept, and even the windows that we do have are rather draughty.

Next is the total lack of any heating provision. No central heating which we are so used to. But worse still in our house no fireplace at all. Some of the houses have reverse cycle air con, which you can switch round to provide a certain amount of warmth in the winter, but the only people I know who have it are unimpressed by its efficacy and have recently gone and bought a load of oil filled radiators to keep off the night time chill. Our house has a couple of gas bayonets into which one can fit a gas fire. We recently invested in one which has been a lifesaver but I tend to have it on all the time in the living area and then the bedrooms feel noticeably cold when its time for bed. In fact I have taken to hot water bottles again after 6 years of marriage as Brian simply isn't able to stand my icy feet any more. He said to me the other day "Why is this house so bitterly cold?" and the honest answer is simply that the fabric of the building never gets warm at the moment. Therefore there's no reserve of warmth for evenings and mornings when you need it most.

And it's not just that we chose an especially bad house, this is totally normal and in fact we are in a fairly newly built "quality" home. All the people I know (not that that is dozens I'll admit but i think it's a fair snapshot) are in the same situation. The concept that double glazing might keep out the heat in summer as well as the cold in winter has clearly not been taken on board. And oh how I long for a few radiators to air/warm the boys pyjamas before they put them on at night.

So there you have it. The flipside of all the heat and swimming and barbeques. We're cold!!

Personal or just bonkers?

Now, if there's a thing guaranteed to cause controversy it's personalised number plates on cars. I am generally of the opinion that they are for people with more money than sense but I'm sure there will be those of you out there who think otherwise. The thing is, there seems to be no rule over here as to what you can have. At home, I'm used to seeing the occasional one, and people have to use a bit of imagination to find their desired monicker in some previously issued template of the UK DVLA system. Here it seems if you want to pay for it, and nobody else has already got it, you're laughing.
And so are we.
Might I just clarify. There are occasionally reasons to approve these things. A couple we know have both got "personalised" plates which were bought as part of a fundraiser for their son's school and read very discreetly something like the school's initials plus a number. Fair enough. Well done for visibly supporting your school and joining other parents in doing so.
Also there are some tradespeople who for work purposes obviously thought it would be a fun bit of advertising. I've seen a builders van with the plate "chippy" and another with "briklayr", an air conditioning engineer with "ice cool" and an estate agent with " Im selling".
Getting further over an already fine line, some people like to show an allegience of some kind. A teacher at Ru's kindy has "Arsenal" and I saw in a local car park the other day "Arsenal2". Obviously the latter was beaten to it by the teacher and had to settle for second best. Today I spotted an apparent Pink Floyd fan driving a 70's mustang with "crzydimond". I'm guessing he had to drop the "shine on you..." prefix as it wouldn't fit on.
Going rapidly downhill are the ones who fall into the "rich kid" category. These guys have parents with more money than sense as evidenced by the likes of "cottn candi" and "rav4 jen" (yes, it was a Rav4, and I'm guessing an 18th birthday present)
But what really fascinates are those who have been truly deluded by the money they own. The really cringeworthy plates that make one wonder what they were thinking...... In my short time here I have seen examples from "shazzer" (White BMW, plate set on a pink background)  to "numero uno" , "ker chingg" and, worst of all, "agent 007"
Arrrggghh, how bonkers can you get? Perhaps that's why so many of them have darkened glass in their windows.
I know I would.

They've gone home.

Ok, ok, so I've been incredibly slack in the writing of the blog. Mum and Dad being here meant it felt rather rude to be sat at the computer too often, and it was nice to be able to spend time with them. So we have watched Aussie masterchef and drunk tea together most evenings when I might otherwise have sat here with this machine.
Since our trip down to Busselton the Mitsubishi is still plodding on, albeit I'm sure we'll have to shell out on a new clutch soon. We've been able to go out en masse far more easily thanks to it, so i can't be too upset. Recent excursions have included Mundaring dam, Scitech science museum in Perth ( fantastic for young and old alike and to be highly recommended) and a treetop walk in Kings park.
Unbelievably, the six weeks came to an end on Wednesday and we had to take my parents to the airport. The boys were delighted that we actually saw their plane come in to land from the window of the coffee shop and taxi past to it's gate. But the down side was that this meant it was time to go and wave goodbye as they headed through security. We felt rather flat as we headed back to the car and so I suggested that we go home and have a snuggle on the sofa and watch a movie on DVD. This is something we rarely do, and it's even more rare for me to join the boys, as I'm always running around cooking or doing some kind of chore. I can't say I sat for the whole film (Rio), but I did see most of it and it definitely cheered us up a bit.
Then yesterday (Thursday) Grandma rang  on skype to say they're home safe and sound and Ru promptly burst into tears. At least it's not long before we'll see them again as we'll be home for Auntie Aoife's wedding soon. That's what's keeping me buoyed up at the moment anyway :o)